Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion

Lewis_C wrote: »

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster.

I'm 22, have been driving for one year and I'm insured with the Co-operative young driver policy. At the end of the month I will have no car meaning I will lose my job thanks to the co-op. I unfortunately fell into the statistics and had an accident in October 2011. I payed my excess and the co-op never said anything else. They even allowed me to insure a bigger and better car (my current car: 2000 Seat Ibiza 1.4). I have logged into my dashboard and it says my driving has been consistantly 'Excellent'. Despite this they have said they will refuse to give me a renewal because I had an accident

All other companies have quoted nothing less than 5K (believe me, i've rang a lot).

What do I do? With no car I will lose my job, I can't pay my credit cards and will ultimately lose everything. They have no idea what damage they do to us when they simply wave us away saying 'no'.

any help will be greatly appreciated

Run quotes with a different model of car? Either a 1L, or an old family type car.

Or get a moped?

Sounds like the accident that you had resulted in a big payout for the Co-Op. DO yiou know if there were injuries involved?

As unfortunate as your circumstances are, no insurer HAS to accept your business. Look at it this way, say you had paid them £3k for the year but your accident ended up costing them £20k due to injury claims, you can see why they would not want to continue to insure you....

Two things.

Are you declaring you've been refused insurance. Technically you haven't, the Co -op have declined to renew. Some insurers ask different questions, so answer honestly though.
The car isn't helping.

I am looking for a cheap to insure for a 17 year old, and have run a lot through compare.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4162443

marrbett wrote: »

My 17 year old son is on my insurance(Fully comp) and it cost him under £1800. That is with Aviva, and there is no increase in the cost when he passes(hopefully in August). We couldn't find any way of getting him insured in his own right,but we're told that a year's claim free driving (in my fiesta!) will bring next year's premium down.
Hope that's true!!!

But he isn`t earning any no claims discount that way is he ?
Be careful, if he has an accident, they will look into the driving and if they find he was the main user, that`s `fronting` and you may not get paid out.

We eventually managed to find a specialist insurer who will insure a Classic (ie 1970`s) Austin Mini for £2400. Try finding a rust free example for sensible money !

I do find it odd the insurance industry feels it is less risky for my son to drive a 40 year old car with almost no occupant protection than a more modern, safe one.:mad:

Ultimately, he couldn`t justify the costs to get on the road and isn`t driving.

I have recently retired from work and if my son passes his test next week it would make sense for him to drive my car ( 58 Reg 1.6 Focus) to his place work as I very rarely use it during the day. He may also want to use it on other occasions but until he passes his test I have no idea who will end up using the car the most but it could work out about 50/50.

After reading through Martin's article and this thread I'm more confused than when I started so any help would be appreciated.

As usual, using the excellent advice given on this site, I've recently taken out a policy with Hastings Direct. I managed to secure a better policy plus cashback than what I was quoted by last year's Insurer ( AVIVA - formerly Norwich Union ). I have over 20 years driving experience (Didn't pass my test until I was 32) and currently have over 9 years protected NCD. My son has been learning with Pass n' Go and, presumably, has been covered by their insurance when taking lessons so hasn't built up any "insurance experience" of his own and is reluctant to drive my car until he passes his test which, obviously, will require him to obtain insurance to cover him.

What's our best option insurance wise? Or is our only option for him to be added to my policy as a named driver and, presumably, for me to give up my protected NCD.The latter assumes I've interpreted some of the other threads on this subject correctly.